A New Bot in Town
by Duel Mistress K
Summary: (Armada) Good lord, I updated it! Chapters One, Two, and Three are rewritten, Chapter four is UP! READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!
1. In the Beginning

DMK: …alright…err…This is a rewrite. (Duh.) Anyhow…I've rewritten it partly because Aurora's personality isn't very well-portrayed, AND it might help me get back into this story…With that said, ENJOY IT, DARN YOU!

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            Chapter One

            Deep in space, a small, sleek cruiser came out of warp drive. The warp engine nestled on the belly of the ship was smoking. Inside the ship, the pilot rushed from her seat to a nearby monitor hurriedly.

            "By the Pit…I KNEW I should have cross-checked that darned warp engine…now I'm stranded…" The pilot trailed off, agitated.

            That was, before she looked out the nearest window, and noticed the blue and green planet below. White clouds swirled about in intricate patterns all over the sphere's surface. From her knowledge banks she discovered it was the planet Earth. "So _this_ is Earth…" she said, thinking aloud. "Optimus Prime and the other Autobots should be down there fighting, then…hopefully I won't be detected by the Decepticons…"

            But, seconds later, that became the least of the femme's worries. The white, fluorescent lights turned red, and an alarm blared in her audio receptors. She checked the computer's display, and it read that she had been snared in the planet's gravity. Already she noticed as her ship began to move closer and closer to Earth, and the speed increased.

            "No! I'll be incinerated if I don't pull out!" She cried in fear, running back to the pilot's seat. Gripping the joystick that acted as the steering mechanism, she pulled it towards her chest. The ship barely responded. "What on Cybertron does Primus have against me?!" 

            She pulled on the lever once again, and it was only partially effective. The ship was still falling at too great a trajectory. She was going to crash!

            _'This isn't going to end well…'_

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Autobot Base, Earth

            RedAlert had been sitting at his surveillance console when a small blip appeared on his radar. He sat up with a jolt and locked onto the signature. That ship…

            He spun around in his console chair. "Optimus! We've got a situation!"

            Prime's head snapped up. "What is it?"

            "An unidentified spacecraft has entered Earth's atmosphere. Sensors indicate that it's not of human design."

            "Is it from Cybertron?"

            "More than likely. But I can't establish radio contact so I can't determine whether it's Autobot or Decepticon."

            Optimus thought for a moment. "I want you to assemble the team. We're moving out."

            "Yes sir!"

_______

Decepticon Base, The Moon

            Starscream was sitting alone on a rocky ledge, looking over Earth. He sighed. He was deep in frenzied thought…probably thinking up ways to dethrone Megatron and take power for himself. That was, however until the roar of helicopter rotors reached his auds. He turned to look, and watched as Cyclonus went flying overhead. 

            "Where on Cybertron have you been?" The copter asked before Transforming and landing on the ground. "Didn't you hear the alarm?"

            "No," Starscream grated. "Must've missed it. Why though? Is there another Minicon?"

            "Naw, we just picked up a Cybertronian ship on radar. We might have a new teammate!" He cackled. 

            "A Cybertron ship, eh?" Starscream repeated. Now he was interested…

            "Yeah! So let's move it!"

            Sighing heavily, the seeker transformed. He then followed Cyclonus back to the base for their orders. They got inside to hear the tail end of Megatron's poor excuse for a pep talk.

            "…If the pilot of that ship is a Decepticon, greet him with open arms. If it's anything else, I want it obliterated on the spot, am I understood?"

            "Yes sir!" Rang from every present warrior.

            "Then fall out!"

TBC

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There…I hope this was a decent rewrite…it was a 'tad longer…so maybe y'all liked it more…. REVIEW IT IF YOU CARE! ^___^


	2. The Fight Begins

DMK: ….alright, here is chapter two rewritten! Hopefully I won't deviate from Aurora's true personality TOO much…READ NOW!

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Chapter Two

Inside the decimated star fighter, it was a scene of destruction. Windows had been shattered or blown out, the glass scattering like shrapnel. The numerous computer monitors were either dark or had static on their screens. Sparks flew occasionally from random areas, adding to the destructive sight.

Meanwhile, the femme was still. She looked dead. But, a few seconds later, her optics flickered on and opened, and she moaned weakly. After laying there for a few moments, she got to her hands and knees, then to her feet. At that, the floor gave a sickening groan and bowed inward.

"I'm…I'm alive…" She said in awed disbelief. "Wow…" She couldn't help but smirk for evading death.

But the femme wasn't entirely arrogant. Instead of taking her chances on a ship that could collapse in on itself at any moment, she decided to leave. Unfortunately, the door was jammed shut, but with the proper 'persuasion', it opened just fine. With a loud bang, it fell away, dented and smoking. With a carefully placed step, the shock-white female Transformer set her first foot down on Planet Earth. Once she was clear of the ship she looked up. The sky was growing dark at the horizon, with white-feather clouds whisking across the sky amongst small pinpricks of stars. It would have been beautiful had it not been for the fact that now she was stranded….

"Wonderful…" she sighed. "I just wish Zephyr was here with me…" That's when voices carried across the wind reached her auds.

The most commanding of them was stern and almost cruel. "Get those inept skidplates of yours in gear you fools! We must recover that space ship at all costs!"

Following instinct, the female raced up the side of a half-collapsed mesa, taking cover behind a stand of rocks. The footfalls grew louder, and she caught yet another set of voices to her opposite side. "Aww Optimus! How much longer is it?!"

"RedAlert?"

"We're practically on top of the ship, sir. I'm guessing once we get on the other side of this mesa we'll see it."

"Good. Then let's get it in gear, men. I can smell Decepticons a mile away..."

_'The Autobots!'_ The femme thought to herself in surprise. _'What perfect timing... Well, here's to hoping they won't send me right back home again...'_

Instead of dashing down the side of the hill to gleefully greet her allies, she remained crouched on top of the mesa. A wise choice, too-for both the Autobots and Decepticons came around the sides of the rock formation at the same time. Her ship was right in between them.

"Well, look what we have here!" The lead Decepticon cackled mockingly. Aurora shuddered, at the voice, horrid memories flooding back into her mainframe. "Autobots! Come to get another skidplate kicking, I see..."

_'Well he's still as arrogant as ever,_' the femme thought wryly. She watched as one of the younger Autobots present scoffed at Megatron.

"You? Kick our skidplates? Yeah, in the next millennium, maybe! Jolt, powerlink!" At the command, a small, reddish helicopter Minicon latched onto the mech's back, and his back axle flipped upwards. It had now become a cannon. "Take this, rabbit-ears!"

_'Nifty trick,'_ the femme thought, still watching with interest. The mech fired off his cannon several times, but the rounds were nullified as Megatron swatted them away with the Starsaber.

"Hahahaha! Really now, was that your best shot?" Megatron goaded in a mocking voice. "Because if that was, I would almost feel sorry for hacking you in half..."

Yellow snarled and made a dash for the lead 'Con, but an Autobot Aurora clearly identified as Optimus placed his hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Hotshot, stand down. Go with Smokescreen and check the ship for survivors, I'll deal with Megatron."

Shooting Megs a scowl, Hotshot turned and raced to the cruiser along with a stout, orange and blue mech who had a crane mounted on his right shoulder. As they made the dash for the ship, Megatron shouted out to two of his men: "Starscream, Cyclonus, shoot them down and recover the passenger yourselves!"

A red seeker and a white and purple helicopter both took to the air in their vehicle modes and began to wildly fire on the two Autobots. "Today's main dish: HOT LEAD!" The helcopter shouted as he went on an insane strafing run. This gave the seeker time to get inside the ship, while the two Autobots could do nothing but shield their faces and take the fire.

_'This'll shut you up,'_ the femme thought mentally again, pulling out a double-barreled plasma shell shotgun. She placed it in a notch between two rocks quietly. Following the 'Copter's erratic flight pattern calmly, she anticipated his move, tightened her grip on the trigger, and fired.

BOOM!

"Yee-AHHH!" Cyclonus howled in pain as he went careening into the ground. With the shout of the command, he reverted to his robot mode just in time to hit the sandy dirt, face first.

Everybody battling stopped. Nobody had taken a shot at Cyclonus...

Nobody they were aware of, that is.

Prime turned to look at his men, incredulous. "Who fired?" Everyone shook their heads in disbelief, as if answering, 'It wasn't me.'

No one had moved. Not until the seeker that had entered Aurora's cruiser re-emerged again and shouted, "Megatron! There's nothing there!" He paused, a bit surprised, when he saw Cyclonus' fallen form.

"Impossible!" Megatron shouted. "Look again!"

"I searched the entire cockpit area, and storage bays, sir! There's _nothing_!"

Meanwhile, the sun was setting. As the glowing sphere started to sink lower, the light caught the barrel of the hiding femme's gun and caused a glare. Unfortunately, the glare caught the optic of a very angry Decepticon leader. In a flurry of movement, he turned to face the direction of the glare, and saw the gunbarrel clearly. "There you are!" With a grunt, his hip-cannon swung forward. He gripped it tightly and fired blindly, indifferent to wether the sniper was Autobot, Decepticon, or Neutral. All he cared about was that it was destroyed.

_'Wonderful!'_ Aurora then froze. She was caught by total surprise, too shocked to even evade. _'Move!'_ her conscience shouted at her. _'You'll be a pile of ashes if you don't!'_ But it was too late. By the time she had coerced her own body to stand, the laser rounds were well on their way to contact.

And Aurora was still paralyzed with fear.

TBC

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DMK: So? Any better than the first time? I'm trying a new personality with her, really I am... v.v;;


	3. Aurora and the Autobots

DMK: ...well... hope the rewrite isn't too bad so far. I can't believe I sucked this much at writing... v.v ::coff coff:: anyway... here's the third chapter, rewritten!

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Chapter Three

Optimus hadn't seen what Megatron was busy firing at, but after a second glance he also saw the head of a crouching Transformer. The laser rounds careened towards his target quickly. When the 'Bot stood up, Prime seemed surprised. It was a shock-white femme.

From where he had been standing, near the ship, Smokescreen also saw this newcomer. He thought for a second, and gave a quick glance to his right shoulder. Liftor was still powerlinked to his crane, longarm cannon at the ready. The Skyboom Shield was mounted on that very same cannon. He gave this some thought, but after only a moment, he brought his cannon to bear, aiming at the female Transformer. "Comin' atcha kiddo! Catch!"

Aurora glanced in the direction of the voice and saw the glowing yellow shield as it was fired at her. She braced for impact. In a flurry of movement, she gripped the Minicon weapon in one hand and blocked Megatron's missilefire almost a split-second later. The rounds ricoched off into the sky harmlessly.

"Smokescreen?! What's the deal?!" Hotshot shouted to his friend. "We don't even know if that femme's a 'Bot or a 'Con! You coulda just handed our only defense against the Starsaber over to the bad guys for all we know!"

Smokey glanced at him out of the corner of his optics and answered plainly, "Yeah, I sorta thought about that... But answer me this: why would she want to shoot down old rotor-rear over there?"

"Who _wouldn't_?"

Smokescreen just glared at him.

Hotshot held up his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright, fine, forget I said that."

Megatron, meanwhile, growled. "You'll pay for meddling in our affairs!" He roared up at the white femme. Then, he turned to face the other Autobots, wearing a sly grin on his face. "But first... since you have no defense... I'll destroy all of you! Leader-1! Powerlink!"

At his command, the small Minicon connected himself to the front of Megatron's gun turret, causing several smaller cannons to swing forward. The Leader of the Decepticons cackled, and began firing upon the Autobots, his turret spinning like a huge revolver. His henchmen, the ones that were conscious, anyways, joined in not long after.

"You fools! Do you honestly believe you can withstand my superior firepower without that Shield to hide behind?!" Megatron goaded ofer the roar of the laser fire. "Surrender, and I'll execute you all quick and painlessly!"

_'The Skyboom Shield...'_ Aurora thought to herself, looking down at the weapon she held clenched in her hand. _'To think, I'm holding it...'_ She was now a bit surprised to actually possess one of these lengendary weapons. Looking down at the Autobots below, she gave a frown. 'Yes, I'm a pacifist... but Autobots help other Autobots, and I'm the only one who can help them right now!" With resolve in her optics, she jumped over her small rock bunker and slid down the mesa's face, gaining momentum as she did this.

"Too easy!" Megatron cackled with glee. "Come now, Prime, is this the best you can do?" He again broke into maniacal laughter, savoring this battle to no end.

He was, however, too engrossed in what he was doing that he neglected the blur of white and red that came careening down the hill towards him. Aurora slammed, shield-first, into him. Shouting a string of colorful curses, Megatron sailed several body lengths away and landed flat on his back, groaning. The Decepticons stopped, speechless. And when the Autobots had finally stopped shielding their faces and realized what had happened as well, they too, were shocked. The battlefield had again come to a standstill, nobody moving.

Until Megatron began to get to his hands and knees, furious that he'd just been humiliated by a femme. "You foolish female! How dare you interfere again! To think I was going to just abduct and reprogram you, but now-" He gripped the largest gunbarrel on his tank turret and aimed it for her. "You shall perish!"

"Try it, Megatron!" Aurora hated fighting. However, when she remembered... her anger flared.

"You'll regret those words, wench!" Without another moment's hesitation, Megatron activated his tank turret once more, causing it to swing wildly and fire laser rounds at random. Aurora tried her best to hold the shield up, but even under such strain she was having trouble. Digging her feet into the ground, she was forced back, inch by inch, when a rogue round struck her knee joint.

Aurora gave a startled and pained yelp as she staggered backwards. For a moment, she was precariously balanced on her good leg, but Megatron continued his onslaught, throwing her center of gravity off. She began to fall. As she did, however, she hit something hard.

Or rather, somethings. Two Autobots, the one named Hotshot and another, a navy and white one, had taken hold of the shield and had kept Aurora from opening herself up to an attack. Megatron frowned at this, still firing wildly. "Fire at will, men! NOW!" The other Decepticons took the command to heart and started attacking once more. Aurora's saviors strained under the fire, and so the femme got to her functional knee and tried her best to help.

"Anytime now, guys!" She heard Hotshot call back to his teammates. In response, they drew their weapons and returned fire, pushing the Decepticons back.

"Slag! Megatron, we're not going to win this!" Starscream shouted, covering his head with his hands. "We've got to retreat!"

The Decepticon tyrant growled, grudgingly accepting this fact. He threw his head back and shouted, "RETREAT!" His voice boomed over the roar of the firefight, and within seconds the bulk of the attacking 'Cons were warping back to their base. However, Megatron stayed behind for a few moments, glaring daggers at Aurora. He hissed a warning: "Mark my words, female, you _will_ regret the day you humiliated me."

And, in a blink, he was gone.

"Ohh yeah!" Hotshot cheered happily as he ran back to a younger mech and gave him a high-five. "Who da bots? We da bots!"

"You know it!" The other one grinned happily. "We showed them, bro!"

The navy mech who remained standing by the kneeling Aurora gave a disgruntled sigh at their childish behavior, but then turned to her. "Are you alright?" He asked, helping the femme to her feet slowly.

"I'm alright," She responded confidently. "It only looks like superficial damage to the joint and musclecables, the armor's what took the hit. Nothing I can't fix with a quick rewire and some sautering."

"Ah, so you're a medic, are you?"

She gave a slight nod. "Somewhat." Then, after a small pause: "Thank you for saving me, er..."

"My name's RedAlert. And you are?"

"Ensign Aurora Borealis, warrior i.d 9709." She said in an official tone, trying to stand as straight as possible as she introduced herself.

Optimus had heard their exchange, and chuckled at the femme's formality. "At ease, soldier," he told her kindly as he and the rest of the Autobots approached her. Flanking him were soldiers that she had heard stories about back on Cybertron. If anything, Aurora felt humbled to even be in their presence, considering her mundane life as a medic and soldier back home.

Hotshot was also grinning at the newcomer, glancing at her sidelong. His 'bro' who was standing beside him, peered closer at her, and something clicked. "...Aurora Borealis?! _Aurora_, Aurora?!"

She looked to the mech, and after recognizing him, her face brightened. "Sideswipe?! I don't believe it! What on Cybertron are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing!" He responded in his habitually happy voice. "If ya really wanna know, I'm helping with this war," He stated proudly, puffing out his chest. "I'm one of the greatest warriors around, too!" He didn't notice Hotshot or Blurr stifle snickers.

Aurora snickered out loud. "Yeah? How many rounds does it take for you to hit a target nowadays, then?"

Hotshot was staring blankly at the two. "So you two know each other?"

"Yup!" Sideswipe chirped happily. "We went to class together at the Autobot Academy! Though..." His happy expression had changed to that of someone slightly embarassed.

"What? Did ya flunk out while she got all the good grades?"

Looking embarassed, he nearly fell over. "N-No!"

Aurora gave a tiny chuckle. "Uh-huh, sure I didn't, Mr. 'I-graduated-at-the-bottom-of-my-class-because-I-was-so-busy-partying-and-corking-off'! You know old Teacher Kronos passed you only because he was tired of you, Spurr, and Boomer desecrating the campus!"

The rest of the team began to chuckle and laugh at Sideswipe, who hunched over a little. He emitted a high-pitched whine. "'Rora! Did you have to say that?!"

As the round of giggling ceased, Hotshot stated flat-out, "I like you, Aurora, you're not half-bad! I was afraid all the medics were as dry as RedAlert over there but I guess not!" The said medic grumbled and crossed his arms at Hotshot's jest. "Anyway, the name's Hotshot, nice t' meetcha." He stuck out his hand to her, and she shook it.

"Nice to meet you, too." She said with a smile.

Optimus cleared his throat then, and the two looked to him. "It's a pleasure to make your aquaintance also, Aurora, though I do need a bit of an explanation as to what you're doing here without any sort of warning."

"Oh, yes...that..." She shifed from her good to her injured leg, forgetting it had been damaged. With a small crackle and a shower of sparks, she gave a small grunt of pain and instantly placed the majority of her weight back onto her good foot, throwing her off-kilter. As she pitched sideways, an arm shot out and took a firm grip on her arm and pulled her back upright. It was RedAlert. She gave him a grateful but sheepish smile, and he grinned slightly in return.

"How about after we get her repaired, sir?" he broke in, analyzing the injury from where he was standing.

Optimus nodded. "Of course," he answered kindly. "Let's get going, shall we?"

All of the Autobots nodded in agreement: they each had some sort of injury that needed attention, and were glad to get the opportunity to fix them. Each of them reverted to their vehicle modes, and in an instant, they had left the desert behind.

TBC

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DMK: Alright, that's the last one! Whew! Now, to get on to newer material... mwa-hahahaha, hope it wasn't too bad, the only thing I didn't rewrite was the last paragraph, but then again I'm a lazy bum. So sue me. :P Anyway, have fun and let me know how you liked this!


	4. Welcome to the Team

DMK: Alright, I cleared the Author's note before could find out and wipe the story or my account. I thought I would have to like, update twice to have it show in the TF/BW section, but I could delete the chappie! Isn't that nifty!? X3 Tee-hee! 

Aurora: You've lost it...

Hotshot: ::sigh:: she never had it.

DMK: AHEM! . MOVING on... It seems all y'alls (or at least the majority of the reviewers) want her to hook up with the same 'Bot. Heh. ::shoots RedAlert a demented grin::

RedAlert: O.O;; should I be afraid???

DMK: No, unless you _want_ to remain hoplessly single for all of eternity...

RedAlert: PRIMUS NO! ...but the way your mind works scares me. I just know there's going to be a cliche near-death experience or something...

DMK: and you'd be right. But since this Author's note has dragged on for WAY too long, here's my latest update! =D

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Chapter Four**

"Yeowch!" Aurora gave a yelp and tried to scoot away from RedAlert, who was poking at her wounded knee to assess the damage. She was seated on the edge of a recharge gurney inside the Autobot's huge medical bay.

"Oh come on, you should be able to take this," Red told her calmly as he started to repair the damaged wiring.

She grimaced as pain shot up her leg again. "Operating on a paitent is one thing. Being operated on is entirely another, especially when the medic repairing you _doesn't use numbing agents_!" Her voice had risen again as Red started sautering a blown fuse, causing a great deal of pain on her part. "Primus, that smarts!"

"You did more damage to that knee than you thought," He explained, finishing up his work. "I didn't mean to hurt you, though. It shouldn't cause you any more problems now."

The mech was right. Aurora slid off the gurney and landed on her feet, and there was no real pain to speak of in her joint. "Well, paint me red and call me Prime, it doesn't hurt at all!" She watched as he got to his feet. "Thank you. And I'm sorry if I whined a bit too much. Low pain threshold."

RedAlert chuckled. "That's alright, it happens to us all." The femme scratched her nose thoughtfully and accepted the statement, and so he spoke again: "Well, now that that's out of the way, we should get you to Optimus. He's probably got a few questions for you."

She gave a nod, slightly anxious, and followed the medic out of the repair bay.

- - - - - - - - - -

Optimus was standing over a computer console, reading information on their unexpected guest. "Hmm... Aurora Borealis... Graduated in the same class as Sideswipe, obviously, but the age range in that class was one of the most diverse in a while... High marks in both combat skills and in medicine, and-" He stopped and re-read the information. "She was involved in the Savage Blitzkrieg tragedy... Hmm..." This obviously had sparked something in the Autobot's memory bank, because he began to reflect on it, and did so for several moments.

"So Prime... what're we gonna do with her?" Jetfire asked, standing beside his leader. "She looks like she'd make a great addition to our team..."

He sighed and turned away from the computer, arms folded behind his back. "Well, I first want to know what she was doing in this solar system before I make my decision."

"Well from what I saw today, she does live up to her reputation at the school," Scavenger pointed out, finally speaking. "If her reason is legitimate, I would certainly vote for allowing her to stay."

Almost as if on cue, Aurora and RedAlert entered the command center, the femme following the medic somewhat meekly. "Ah, there you are," Prime said, turning to face her. His arms were still folded behind his back. "Good to see you're in full working order."

She nodded silently, a serious look on her face. It was then that Jetfire, giving a sigh, sat back in a wheeled computer chair and stretched. "Sooo... Miss 'Rora... what brings you to our humble abode here on Earth?" Prime glared at him for his informality, and he almost instantly hopped to his feet and assumed a more proper stance, embarassed.

Giving the tiniest snicker at Jetfire, she cleared her throat and spoke: "I was on my way to the Deep Space quadrant Gamma-47 as one of the head medical advisors when my warp engine malfunctioned. I came off the space bridge, and ended up here. The gravity of the Earth pulled me in before I could repair my engines, and well, I believe the rest is history."

"I see..." Prime had forgotten about the Deep Space voyages. "Was the situation in dire need of your services in Gamma-47?"

"No, I don't think so," Aurora answered. "There were already two other medical advisors stationed there. They just needed a third, I suppose."

Prime thought about this, scratching the chin of his face mask absently. "Well... seeing as how your ship is beyond repair, and the fact that our warp gate couldn't hope to reach Gamma-47 without proper space bridges, I have no choice but to welcome you to the front here on Earth, Aurora."

She grinned, pleased. "Thank you, sir, you won't be disappointed with your decision." Aurora stood stock straight and saluted him then, and he returned the gesture with an optic-smile. Both Jetfire and Scavenger stepped forward to shake their new teammate's hand and welcome her to Earth.

"Sooo, Miss Borealis, you up for a grand tour of the base or do ya feel like explorin'?" Jetfire asked as he finished his handshake with her.

"Please, just call me Aurora," She began a bit sheepisly. "And I think I'll just hunt down Sideswipe first to tell him I'm here to stay... Er... any ideas on where he'd be?"

Scavenger and Prime looked at one another. "Playing videogames," they answered flatly.

As Aurora was about to open her mouth to ask where that was, Optimus gave her the proper directions: left down this hallway, hang another left, and the third door on the right would be the 'hangout room' where her former classmate hopefully was. After one last gracious "thank you" to Prime for allowing her to stay, she left the command center in search of Sideswipe.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Oooh yeah! Ownage again!" Hotshot cheered as he successfully creamed Sideswipe in a fighting video game. "I ru-le, I ru-le!" He continued in a singsong tone, doing a little jig while still seated cross-legged on the ground.

Sideswipe hunched over and grumbled, watching as his videogame character was pummeled into submission. "No fair..."

"It's just a game, dude, no reason to get worked up over it!" Carlos, Rad, and Alexis were seated next to the giant Transformers as if it were the most commonplace thing in the world, watching them both play a downloaded version of Tekken 4. "You'll get better at this thing soon enough, Sideswipe!" Carlos explained in a casual voice. "Hotshot just has way too much free time to burn playing games."

"Hey!"

Everyone in the room except Hotshot laughed at this small jest, but eventually the bright yellow mech gave in to the contagious giggles. They all stopped when they heard the airlock door slide open. Aurora was standing in the doorway, her arms folded loosely across her chestplate. "Well, Optimus was right about where you'd be!"

"Aurora!" Sideswipe scrambled to his feet and then ran to the femme. "So how'd it go? What's Optimus gonna do? Will he let you hang around here? Huh, huh, huh?! Details!"

She looked at him with an almost placid face for a few moments, not saying anything, until her lips cracked into a grin. "I can stay!"

"Yes!" Sideswipe then proceeded to pounce on his old classmate in a hug. "You're gonna have so much fun here on Earth!"

Rad, Carlos, and Alexis, meanwhile, were staring at this exchange blankly. "Uh... since when were there girl Transformers?" Alexis asked somewhat dully, sort of surprised.

"Since, like, ever," Hotshot answered, still seated on the floor. "You just don't see many of them on the front lines these days. They're all working as nurses and doctors, hardly any as soldiers."

Carlos grinned somewhat as he watched Sidesipe and Aurora hugging. "So is she Swipey's girlfriend or what?"

"Naw, try old classmate." Then Hotshot bent down to whisper. "Though Sideswipe was one of the flunkers while she was up at the top of the class." The three kids snickered. As the mech stood up, he spoke to the femme who had just managed to pry Sideswipe off herself. "Hey Aurora, I'd like you to meet some human friends of ours!" She turned to Hotshot's voice and looked down. "This is Rad, Carlos, and Alexis. Natives of the planet."

"Wow, real humans!" Aurora had never seen organics before, so naturally she was interested. "Well it's nice to meet you, Rad, Carlos, and Alexis! You can call me Aurora."

Carlos stepped forward with a wide grin on his face. "Ha, put 'er there, Aurora! Great to see a new Autobot around the base!" He held out his fist, and she gave him a puzzled look. "What? Ya never slapped fists before?"

"Er, no... I don't think I have..."

"It's easy! All ya do is put your hand to someone else's, like this." Rad finally chided in from behind Carlos. To demonstrate, he connected his clenched fist with Alexis'. "See?"

Aurora blinked her optics, still sort of confused, but nodded. "Ohhh... well alright then!" She held out her fist to Carlos, who promptly slapped his to it. Chuckling, she then extended it to Rad and Alexis, who slapped both of their fists to hers at the same time. "Hehe, cool custom, we should have this back home."

"So 'Rora, dija get a chance to be shown around the base or what?" Sideswipe asked from where he was standing.

"Nope, not yet, I wanted to track you down first."

"Ohhh, well, ya want us to show you around then?"

"Yeah!" Hotshot chimed in. "I'll go with ya!"

Aurora stood up, smiling contentedly at them both. "Well then sure, let's see this base."

Along with the three kids, Hotshot and Sideswipe left the hangout room to show their newest teammate her new 'home away from home'.

TBC

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DMK: Thank GOD! That took me WAY too long! And it was way too short! .;; I have no idea for the next chapter, seeing as my muses are off making the sequel to "Baby Blues"... .;; 

Wheeljack: Who, me? ::tries to wipe the lipstick marks off his face before too many people notice::

Windracer: We've been good! Honest! We just don't have anymore ideas either... n.n;;

DMK: great. I'll go get me some new muses, I guess. ::sigh:: oh well, tell me how this was in a review, please! (though if you reviewed the Author's note signed the last time, it might not let you do it again or whatever. you'd prolly hafta log out and then review, which is a pain in the rear-end but ah well. .;; )


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